


It takes a team to clean

by StarrBomb



Series: Cleaning frenzy [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Lion gets kind of sick, Cleaning, Don't worry though, Lance is the man, Poor thing, he's going to be fine, it does not go well, the others try and clean their lions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 11:52:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10189331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarrBomb/pseuds/StarrBomb
Summary: This is a sequel to 'scruba dub dub, lions in the tub'. I got a lot of great messages asking for more so, here it is!The team wants to start cleaning the Lions on their own, but when things don't go as planned, will they be able to fix the mess they made?





	

To be honest, this isn't as bad as it could be.

Don't get him wrong. It's hilariously bad. 

But not as bad as could be.

 

After Lance had finished up with Red, she finally let her barrier down, much to Lance’s relief and dread. He was glad that he could finally leave, but also was not looking forward to talking to the others about the cleaning situation with the lions. Mostly because they would all try and do it themselves. And lance knows how demanding the lions are when it comes to their personal cleaning regiment. It took him weeks of getting to know the lions personally and taking time to understand which lion needs which cleaning treatment. But Lance also knows that it would be really helpful if the others did do some of the Maintenance on their Lions. 

The “talk” turned out as well as Lance expected. Pidge and Hunk were a bit surprised when they found out that Lance has been the one keeping their Lions clean and running as smooth as he can. But Hunk didn't seem that surprised in finding out, Hunk has known Lance since they were kids; he shared a dorm with Lance at the Garrison. Hunk has known about Lance being a neatfreak. But he was also the first to say that Lance shouldn't have to be doing it all alone. Of course, they try to go and clean the lions right then and there, which Lance knows will be a disaster, a probably undo all of the work he just did. So after a desperate attempt to go back to the hangars ( cough cough-Keith-cough) Lance explains that each lion likes to be cleaned differently, and that they can’t just jump straight into it, or else they were going to end up with some very grumpy robot lions. 

They all agreed to start learning how to care for their robot lions tomorrow. And after a nice relaxing and skin cleansing sleep, Lance felt at least somewhat more prepared to teaching the others. That was, until he actually got down to the hangars. 

It seems that the others decided to ‘handle it themselves’ and start without him. The chaos that Lance walked into was some of the most funniest and grain-worthy things he has ever seen. 

Keith was banging on the barrier with a….mop? From what Lance can tell, Keith had decided to use a mop to try and clean Red’s armor(that was his first mistake. Red likes the large scrub brush, she hates the mop.) and when Keith had left to get more soap water,(second mistake. He should have put it into a much more reachable space, or at least within the perimeter of Red) she had put up her barrier to keep him out. And from what Lance could hear, he was saying some pretty rude stuff. No way she's letting him anytime soon. 

Pidge's wasn't faring any better though. From what he knows from cleaning Green these past few months, she's is never really picky about what kind of cleaning you do, as long as you take the time to get every part of her done. And Lance also knows that Pidge isn't the most patient person on the ship, she likes things quick and easy, the only time Lance has ever seen her take her time is when she's writing code, and even then she's quick. So seeing her banging on Green’s barrier isn't really much of a surprise. 

Hunk and Shiro seem to be faring better than those to two, but not by much. Hunk seems to have been trying to some maintenance of Yellow’s back, but had slipped on what looked like a spot he had waxed? Washed? But He had somehow got tangled up in some of the cords he had pulled out on the way down. Now he's swinging off the side of Yellow like a piñata, wrapped up in color coded wires. And from the looks of it Hunk may or may not be trying not to barf from hanging upside down. Lance wasn't sure he could hold back his laughter, seeing Hunk like that. 

It seems Shiro had been making some progress on Black, getting as far as into the cockpit, but Lance could tell that whatever wax job Shiro had done was with the wrong wax, making the Black Lion look greasy instead of glossy, and even then Lance can tell that Shiro had missed some parts in doing so. Lance really hopes Shiro is using the right cleaning materials in there. Aaannndd apparently not, since Black seems to have had enough, ejecting Shiro out of his cockpit and putting up his own barrier. Lance couldn't hold back after watching all of that. He laughed full heartedly, bending over clutching his stomach while cracking up at the position they all were in.  
His laughing did make his appearance known to the others, and Lance almost feels bad for laughing, but how could he not! This was too funny not to.

Once he had calmed down enough to get in a couple of good deep breaths, Lance moves towards the Yellow Lion, hoping to help Hunk down before before he blew chunks from being upside down for too long. After some heavy lifting, Hunk was back up on Yellow’s back, and Lance was already helping him untangle himself from all the cords. And if Lance giggled here and there, Hunk didn't say anything about it. 

After Hunk was finally free , Lance slid back down to the hangar floor, where the rest of the group were waiting for him. As soon as he touched the ground, Pidge and Keith starting shooting questions left and right.

“How did you do this?!”

“Why won't she let me in?!”

“This is impossible! Why wouldn't even let me finish?!” 

“What makes you so special?!”

The last one kinda stung, but Lance knows that Keith is just miffed that this is the second time in two days that Red has put her barrier up on him. 

Thankfully, Shiro is able to get them to stop berating him with questions and some off handed insults. And Lance is kinda surprised that Shiro hasn't asked him anything. No, Instead Shiro says “we shouldn't have tried to do this without you. I'm sorry.”

Wow. Shiro just apologized to Lance. He just did that. Wow. Lance nods his head in a silent acceptance of the apology. He looks back at Hunk who is climbing down Yellow, keeping a watchful eye for more slick spots. Once Hunk touches down with the rest of the team, Lance starts corralling the team towards the elevator.  
“Lets all just take a break, eat some goo and come back at this with some clear minds guys. Okay.” Lance turns back to the Lions, and tells them “we’ll be back. Promise!”

After the elevator doors close, Lance turns back to his team, and met with a lot of confused and angry faces.  
“Why did you make us leave?! We could have done it!”

“Yes, smashing on your Lions barriers will have totally cleaned them up in no time.” Lance shoots back sarcastically, giving Keith a smirk as he glares back at Lance, thought he doesn't say anything back.

“So….now what?” Hunk asks, giving Lance the lead.

“Now, we are going to have some breakfast. We are going to calm down,” lance gives a pointed look to Keith and Pidge, “And we're going to talk.”

Everyone leaves the elevator in single file, Lance leaving last to make sure no one tries to slip back down to the hangars. Everyone heads in into the kitchen and dish themselves some space goo, once everyone had sat down and at least eaten half of their bowls, Lance asks “ so what happened to ‘we’ll all work on the Lions with Lance’s help tomorrow’?” Not really looking at anyone but knowing that the team had flinched from his sharp and accusing question.  
“Well...uh…”

“It wasn't really supposed to….um”

“I was mad that Red liked you better than me.”

Keith's declaration shut up everyone's attempts at beating around the bush. Lance looks up at Keith, seeing him staring very intensely at him, as if Lance holds all the secrets of the universe.

“Why do you think Red likes me better than you?”

“Because she wouldn't let you out until you finished cleaning her, but as soon as I try to do to the same, she locks me out! Again!”

“Did you ask why?”

“Wha….what?” Keith is caught off guard by Lance's question, trying to figure out what he means by it. But also at the fact that Lance hasn't risen his voice once since he saw them trying to clean the lions without him. Not once. 

“Did you ask her why she locked you out?”  
Lance repeats himself, hoping that this will get some of the gears turning in Keith's head.

“N...no, I didn't.” Keith looks away from Lance,  
Trying to shy away from truth that Keith messed up,

“And what about you Pidge? Did you ask Green what was wrong before trying to force her to open up the barrier?” 

“No” Pidge's voice was much quieter than Lance liked, but he knows that his point is getting across, so he doesn't try to get her to speak up. 

“I get it that you all wanted to try and do this on your own, For one reason or another. But you also need to know that these aren't just robots or some ship. They are living things. They are our partners. They are part of this team. They deserve just as much respect as we give each other.” Lance watches the others hang their heads with guilt, for not waiting for Lance to help them and for not taking into consideration about what their Lions might want.

“We’re sorry Lance, we should have waited for you. Maybe this all could have gone a lot more smoothly than it did. Please, will you still be willing to help us?”

Man, Lance can't say no when Shiro looks that upset. He lets out a sigh and let his shoulders drop. 

“Of course I'll still help you guys.” He can feel the tension leave the room as everyone breathes a sigh of relief, glad that Lance is still going to help “ but you guys have to listen, ok?” They all nod eagerly, ready to try again, this time with Lance's guidance to show them the way.

The Paladins re-enter the hangars and see that Red’s and Green’s barriers are still up, probably still mad at Keith and Pidge for being too headstrong. But that's not where Lance goes first. He heads over to the Black Lion, everyone else quick to follow. The Black Lion is now laying down on his side, barrier long gone. He doesn't look too good.  
“He doesn't look too good.” It seems that Lance isn't the only one thinking it. 

“Shiro, what did you use to wash Black?”

Shiro head over to the tub of soapy water and grabs a bottle from behind it, he hands it over to Lance as soon as he can.

“This one. Pidge said that the words said soap, so me and Keith were using it.”

Lance looks at the bottle, remembering which one it was. “Pidge's wasn't completely wrong. It was a type of soap, but it's not the right one to use. I remembers looking at this bottle tons of times with Pidge’s language glasses, and it's teleduv soap.”  
Lance explains. No wonder Black wasn't looking so good. While it works for the teleduv great, it's suppose to grease up the disks, make it easier on the disks for the beams to bounce off of them. But it's not good for the Lions. Blue tells Lance that there are certain chemicals in this soap that can make the Lions sick, while not in a physical sense, it can mess with their perception of reality. It's pretty much like Black is high, while yes he won't die from it. It's definitely not good for him.

“Ok. The first thing we gotta do is wash all of this off the Black Lion, isn't good for him.” Lance takes the tub from the floor with Shiro's help and dumps it out. He tells the others to go get the scrub brushes and tells Pidge to grab certain bottles from the closet while he refills the tub with clean water.he can tell that Pidge is nervous about it, since it was her that said the last bottle was okay to use, but he can also tell that if he can first anyone to get the right bottles, it was Pidge. Once he cleans out the tub and refills it with clean water, he sets the tub down closer to Black for easier access than right where it was before. Pidge runs back with dozen of bottles that fit Lance's description of the ones he needed. Lance picks the ones he needs, knowing each one by heart. He rubs Pidge's head giving her a smile “Good job Pidge, can you go put the others back?” She leaves with some more kick in her step. 

Keith is the first one who came back, carrying the damn mop again. Lance stops Keith as soon as possible and takes the mop from Keith. “First lesson, the Lions HATE the mop. Don't ever use the mop unless deemed necessary.” 

“Is this not deemed necessary?”

“No, while a mop will help with getting a large area faster, it takes way longer and it doesn't do a good job.” Lance can see that Keith is trying to understand, but he's still trying to figure out why. “ think of it like trying to clean out dirt from a carpet with a broom, sure, you get the top layer clean but it takes more work and you don't really get down into the grain.” And Keith slowly nods, still trying to put two and two together. It's slow, but Keith finally gets it. “So it takes more time and it doesn't get the job done?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why didn't you just say so?”  
Lance is tempted to smack him with the mop, but decides against.  
“Just…...put the mop back and grab a scrub brush.”

Lance puts in the black Lions favorite soap as well as one that will help get the teleduv cleaning solution off him easier. Making sure that everything is set, he sees the overs bring scrub brushes and even some brooms, which is a good call, whoever made it. Lance can tell that Shiro is definitely worried about Black, most likely feeling guilty that he did this to Black, even though it was an accident. Lance tells the others to start on getting Black cleaned off, but stops Shiro, pulling him to the side to talk with him. 

“Uh, what’s wrong Lance?”

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong. But I am worried about you.”

“Worried? Worried about what?”

“Don't try and deny it, I could see the guilt all the way from Black. You feel like it's your fault.”

“Well isn't it?! I did this to him, I poisoned my own Lion because I wanted to prove….”

“Prove what?”

Shiro looks down at the floor, letting his shoulders slump in guilt “Prove that I knew what I was doing. That I could do it just as well as anyone else. Instead I poison Black and I couldn't even tell.”

Lance places his hands on Shiro’s shoulders, getting him to look up at Lance. And even with the height difference, it's obvious that Lance has Shiro's full attention. “ I know that you're worried for him. I know you're probably thinking that you should have known, that it's your fault. But It's not your fault. It was an honest mistake, any of the others could have made it. Keith almost did. The important part is that you realized your mistake, and that you learned from it.” 

“But what if this hurts Black. We can't exactly make Voltron without the Black Lion, what if-”

“This isn't going to do lasting damage. Blue has assured me that all it's doing is warping his perception of reality. As soon as we wash it off and give him a good cleaning, he'll be able to work the chemicals out of his systems. It might take an hour or two, but Black.will.be.fine.”

“So…...I didn't poison him?”

Lance can't help but chuckle a little at the question “no, Shiro. You didn't poison him. The most you did was make him kinda high. He'll be fine, as long as we don't use the teleduv soap again.”

Shiro laughs at the thought that Black is high right now. Lance can feel the tension leave Shiro's shoulders, and when Shiro looks back at Lance, he looks much more relieved that Black is going to be ok.  
“Thank you Lance.for everything.”

Lance smiles back at Shiro, giving him a pat on his shoulders “Now come on, We got a Lion a to clean off.” Lance hands Shiro one of the brooms and grabs a scrub for himself. And get started on cleaning off Black with the others.

It took all of them about an hour to fully clean off Black; and Lance even cleans off the inside just in case, remembering that was where Shiro was cleaning before Black ejected him. While Shiro says that he doesn't remember what he used, Lance wanted to be sure that all of the teleduv soap was gone.

After that, all they could really do was wait for Black to get the rest of the chemicals out of his system. So others ask for help with their own Lions. Keith practically dragged him over to Red, wanting to know what to do so he won't be locked out again. The others following along, mostly amused that Keith was asking Lance for help with his lion. Lance can even hear Blue chuckling at the scene. Lance sends her his worry over Black, and she tells him that Black is just trying to sleep off the rest of the chemicals, but if anything changes she'll let him know. 

Trying to help Keith with his lion is like talking to a wall. He knows Keith is trying, but he also has never met anyone as bull headed as Keith, especially when it comes to Red. 

“Lance i know how Red wants to be washed!”

“Did you ask her?”

“.......”

“Do you know which bottles to use?”

“...............”

“I thought not. So please, pay attention.”

He grabs another tub from the closet closest to Red, also grabbing Red’s favorite soap, showing it to Keith to make sure he knows which bottle to use next time he does this. He fills the tub up with the soapy water and approaches Red, who immediately takes down her barrier. Keith follows close behind, determined to not be locked out again. Lance hands Keith a scrub brush, and tells him which spots to be careful of, he tells him which places are her favorite to be washed before giving the reins over to Keith, who is keeping everything Lance tells him in mind, making much better progress than he was a few hours ago. 

“And remember, the most important thing you can do, is ask her what she wants you to do. It's much easier taking directions than just guessing what they need. That goes for all of the Lions.” Lance calls out, looking at all of them, making sure they all were paying attention. 

The next one they go to Green, who still has her barrier up. 

“So what am I supposed to do? I couldn't even get close before she put her barrier up. I don't even know what I did wrong.”

“With Green, you have to take the time to completely finish off a cleaning treatment. And she knows that you aren't the best when it comes to taking your time on certain things.”

“.....ok?” 

“Cleaning is one of those things.”

“Excuse you! I do SO take my time when it comes to cleaning!”

Lance raises an eyebrow at her, and he knows she can the scrutiny that he's throwing her way. 

“Really? Because I remember that I had to send you back to the showers when you still had forgo rinsing the conditioner out of your hair because it ‘wasn't really necessary’.”

“Okay! Okay , so I'm not the best when it comes to hygiene or cleaning up. But what can I do to at least try to clean her?”

“ first, get your supplies. Tub, soap and a scrub brush, just like with Red and Keith. But also, ask her. I know that sometimes she can be cryptic with how she wants something but asking is better than guessing.” 

Pidge nods, and heads to Green’s closet to get what she needed. Asking all sorts of questions, presumably to the Green Lion. The only question really directed at Lance was asking if she had the right bottle. After that it was easy for Pidge to get Green To drop her shields and let Pidge start working on her armor.

Hunk didn't really need much help when it came to Yellow. And Lance wasn't expecting him needing much, all he really needed was help with finding the right soap and reminders to avoid certain joints. But Hunk was really good when it came to talking with Yellow. There wasn't much for Lance to teach him. 

He's finally able to pay some attention to Blue, who has been very patient with being the last Lion to get some special treatment from Lance.  
“Hey beautiful, thanks for waiting. How about we go for some simple armor cleaning, huh?” Lance calls out to her, getting a happy purrr echoing in his head in response.

Lance knows that the others have a long way to go before they can do the cleaning and caretaking on their own, but for now, Lance is happy that everything did work out. Lance looks up to Shiro who is making his way over to Blue. 

“Hey Shiro, you need help with anything?” 

“I was actually going to ask you that.”

Huh? Ask Lance if he needed help? 

“It's just that I can't really do much for Black except let him rest and the others seem pretty determined to clean their own Lions, so I thought maybe you wanted some help with Blue.” Shiro rushes to say it as fast as he can, like he's trying to get everything out in one breathe. 

Lance smiles at Shiro and tosses him the scrub brush he was using, “ yeah some help would be nice. Here, catch. I'll grab another from the closet.” Lance grabs another and heads back to Blue and Shiro, who is cleaning between her claws, and is very concentrated on doing a good job. Lance takes in everyone else, working on their Lions with just as much determination. 

Lance smiles.

Yeah, everything is going to work out just fine.


End file.
